<![CDATA[home invasion]]>

Georgia home invasions show issues with no-knock warrants

March 9, 2023 by Tom Knighton Leave a Comment

Over the years, we’ve all heard about home invasions. They’re one of my nightmare scenarios, the kind of moment where I’m forced to use my firearm defensively inside my own home, forever staining the idea of a peaceful retreat from the evils of the world.

Another nightmare scenario is the police coming into the house via a no-knock raid. Maybe they got the wrong address or someone decided to SWAT me, it doesn’t matter. I’m worried about them busting through the door and me thinking it’s a home invasion and either myself, a member of my family, or a police officer gets killed.

“But if identify themselves, saying they’re police, you shouldn’t shoot!” someone might retort.

Except, you can’t trust that, necessarily.

Gwinnett County police arrested a Lawrenceville man who is accused of impersonating an officer to commit multiple home invasions and armed robberies, revealing a larger investigation involving at least 11 suspects.
Christopher Michael, 34, was arrested March 2 on a long list of charges related to two home invasions that took place in September, Gwinnett police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Richter confirmed. Police took out similar charges against a second suspect, 31-year-old Guillermo Hernandez, who was already in custody on unrelated charges in Walton County. Nine other suspects have not been publicly identified.
Michael was one of five armed men who stormed a Lilburn home around 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 6, allegedly kicking in the doors while yelling that they were with police and the Drug Enforcement Administration, authorities said. Doorbell camera footage obtained by Channel 2 Action News shows two cars pulling up to the home in the middle of the night and five men quickly approaching the house.

Just because they come through the door identifying themselves as the police, it doesn’t mean they are.

Few people believe a home invasion isn’t grounds for defending yourself. In a situation like this, if any of these guys had been shot and killed, it would have been justified.

Yet how are we supposed to differentiate between actual law enforcement and people like this?

“If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about,” some might claim.

However, Breonna Taylor wasn’t accused of wrongdoing. Neither was Amir Locke. Both of these people were killed in no-knock raids that, to the residents, sure as hell looked like home invasions.

It seems ridiculous that we could look at these examples and not recognize that it’s at least something we need to talk about, to discuss in a reasonable manner. I mean, criminals are pretending to be cops in order to get compliance from residents quickly. That increases the risk for everyone, including police officers down the road.

So yes, this is a nightmare scenario.

I’m not paralyzed with fear or anything, mind you. I recognize that the odds of either an actual raid or a home invasion are still pretty damn low. However, I’d also like to know that if such a situation were to happen, it would be more clear and the odds of an incident would be much lower.

Florida woman defends self, 90-year-old mother from armed intruder

February 16, 2023 by Cam Edwards Leave a Comment

A 67-year-old woman and her 90-year-old mom are both safe and unharmed after an armed man broke into their home early Wednesday morning in Interlachen, Florida, thanks to the fact that the woman had a firearm of her own to help defend them.

Authorities have identified the intruder as 64-year-old Reginald Best; another resident of the neighborhood who was being sought by police after a series of “erratic” 911 calls made from his home in the hours before he broke into the woman’s residence.

According to the police report, the 67-year-old said she heard the door handle shaking around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and grabbed a gun to see what was going on. She told deputies she thought it could have been her husband because he works late, odd hours.
The report says she opened the door, and Best forced his way in with a gun. She told him to leave several times, but he wouldn’t and kept saying, “They’re after me.”
She told deputies he raised his arms with the revolver in his hands and believed the hammer was cocked. In fear for her life, she shot him.
The woman then called 911, and he was taken to the hospital where he pronounced dead.
“You absolutely have the right to defend yourself in that particular scenario,” Putnam County Sheriff Gator DeLoach told Action News Jax.
…
Prior to the shooting, the sheriff’s office said they took several “erratic” 911 calls from Best and another woman at his home on Silver Lake Drive, roughly half a mile from where the shooting happened. In these calls, Best said he was hiding from people outside his house and that there were people in orange standing outside it.
The incident report said he had heard and/or seen unknown people in the woods or in his vehicle near his residence. The third call was the woman who said Best jumped out of the window with a gun and ran down the street.
DeLoach said deputies responded each time within minutes of the calls, secured the scene and didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, but they also couldn’t find Best after searching the area.

According to neighbors, Best was the “sweetest guy” who had never caused problems or given reason for alarm… at least until yesterday morning. The woman who called 911 from Best’s home reported that he might have been under the influence of a drug of some kind, but police won’t be able to confirm that until after the autopsy and toxicology tests have been performed.

This is a sad situation all around, but it would have been even more tragic if Best had murdered the 67-year-old woman and her elderly mother. According to gun control activists, this woman would have been better off living in a gun-free home; advice that may very well have cost her and her mom their lives if she’d followed it. Because she was prepared for the possibility of a home invader, however, both women are alive today.

“If it were not for (the woman’s) foresight to arm herself, the outcome could have been much graver,” Putnam County Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach said in the release. “It’s unfortunate that Best was struggling with some apparently profound issues and posed a deadly threat to the victim and her family. … I’m grateful that her decisive action stopped the threat, and eliminated the risk of further loss of life, making her entire neighborhood safer.”

I wish that Best had simply stayed away from her home in the first place, but once he burst through the door armed with a revolver, this armed citizen was well within her rights to defend herself and her elderly mother with lethal force, and I’m glad to see the sheriff recognizes that as well.

80-year old Chicago resident shoots, wounds suspected home invader

January 31, 2023 by Cam Edwards Leave a Comment

A brazen broad daylight attempt to rob an elderly Chicago man in his own home ended with two suspects facing charges and a long hospital stay for one of them, thanks to the fact that the octogenarian was able to defend himself with a firearm.

The 80-year old did suffer serious injuries of his own in the attack, but based on authorities’ description of the home invasion, he easily could have been killed if he hadn’t fired at his attacker.

“This doesn’t happen here. This is a pretty rare event,” said Boris Stojakovic, who manages a building across the street with his family.
Investigators said it happened at 10:30 a.m. on the 8500 Block of West Catherine in Chicago’s O’Hare neighborhood.
“We’re actively checking that all our doors stay closed, and notifying our residents to make sure not to let anyone in the building they’re not expecting,” Stojakovic said.
Police said the 80-year-old man was inside a home on the block when the suspects, a man and a woman, knocked on the door. After he opened the door, the suspects entered the home without permission and then a fight broke out.
Police say the 80-year-old, a FOID card holder, shot at the suspects, hitting the man in the chest. The woman was not injured.

Both the suspect who was shot and the homeowner were taken to a local hospital in critical condition, with the homeowner suffering serious injuries after being battered by the intruder. Now neighbors say they’re hoping he pulls through, and are praising his decision to defend himself.

Many in the neighborhood were rattled, but relieved that the victim defended himself. One woman who spoke to CBS 2 asked to remain anonymous.
“I am really heartbroken for him and the family, because he was at home alone and he must’ve been really scared when it happened,” she said. “You never know if someone’s going to come to help you in time, so this could’ve ended really badly.”
Kenny Vierneisel, another nearby resident, said, “I’m glad that he protected himself. If someone breaks into my apartment, I’m going to do the same thing. Right?”

Don’t expect similar words of support or praise for the armed citizen from the likes of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who’s fighting for another term in charge of the city and is downplaying the city’s crime problems in her re-election bid.

“Fox & Friends Weekend” host Rachel Campos-Duffy slammed Lightfoot for ignoring skyrocketing crime
“My daughter lived in Chicago for many years. She lost two classmates to crime during the time that she was there,” she said.
“These are little old ladies who get up at three in the morning, make tamales to sell to the blue collar workers who work, probably all over the city for all the rich people,” she said. “You know what [Lightfoot’s] answer was? Her answer was they should go cashless. Really? You want to sell tamales with a credit card?”

Maybe Lightfoot’s next recommendation will be telling residents that they should go property-less. If you don’t have anything to steal, you don’t have to worry about your stuff getting stolen, right?

For those Chicago residents who aren’t protected by a phalanx of Chicago cops as the mayor is, crime in the city is a major concern, and incidents like this just drive home the fact that their safety is ultimately their responsibility, not the mayor’s or the Chicago PD. I’m praying for this armed citizen’s recovery, but I also hope that his experience spurs other Chicagoans to think long and hard about their own right to armed self-defense in the future.